V.T.R. Rosedale

Using video recording technology, the citizens of Rosedale, once referred to as "the rear end of Alberta" by a frustrated citizen, pulled themselves together as a community. They formed a citizens' action committee, cleaned up the town, built a park, and negotiated with the government to install gas, water and sewage systems. And all this happened within five months.

Unlike its predecessor VTR St-Jacques , VTR Rosedale is not a film document of a community VTR initiative but a film comprised of the video material itself. Contributor Brian Rusted writes, "The film preserves a record of the VTR process, a sense of the quality of the video image from that period, and the aesthetics of the camera practices characteristic of Portapak use." Citizens in the Drumheller Valley of Alberta, with assistance from CFC technicians and the support of University of Calgary's Division of Continuing Education and School of Social Welfare, use video to organize their efforts to attract the attention of municipal and provincial governments to the lack of basic services in Rosedale.